ASCILITE NEWS

2015 ascilite Innovation Award is Now Open for Nominations

The ascilite Innovation Award (first introduced in 2011 as the Innovation & Excellence Award) celebrates work undertaken by an individual or team of people in support of the exemplary and researchinformed use of technologies for teaching and learning in tertiary education. Innovation is defined as a new idea, device or process. It is something original that “breaks into” teaching and learning in the tertiary sector.

Applications for this award are likely to include:

Innovative solutions which promote the exemplary and research informed use of technologies for teaching and learning in tertiary education.

Product development projects which promote the exemplary and research informed use of technologies for teaching and learning in tertiary education.

Large-scale implementation initiatives which promote the innovative, exemplary and research informed use of technologies for teaching and learning in tertiary education.

Major professional development initiatives which promotes the exemplary and research informed use of technologies for teaching and learning in tertiary education.

Full criteria for the award are available in this PDF here and you will find nomination forms here.

Next ascilite Live! Webinar: To Badge or not to Badge? That is the Question

Date & Time

Tuesday, 29 September at 1pm AEST. You can view your local time zone here.

Abstract

Open Badges are a form of digital credential that make it possible for learners to receive credit for all forms of learning they engage in. Badges can recognise skills, achievements and participation across a learner's many contexts. Badges received by learners are portable and stackable. Open badges are based on an internationally agreed open standard.

During this one-hour webinar, Joyce will give a short presentation on open badges, including how they work and highlighting some prominent examples. After the presentation, we would like to invite participants to explore the questions, challenges and opportunities that open badges offer in our environments and for our learners.

Presenters

Joyce Seitzinger has worked in higher education in Australia and New Zealand. She is a learner experience designer, open badges advocate, digital presence coach and founder of Academic Tribe (www.academictribe.co). With her network of distributed education specialists she has worked on projects for education and research organisations, such as RMIT University, the University of Melbourne and Chisholm TAFE. Joyce also co-facilitated the Open Badges Australia and New Zealand community group (@ob_anz). You can often find Joyce on Twitter as @catspyjamasnz.

How to Register

Do you want professional recognition for your work with learning technology? CMALT Australasia.

In the rapidly changing higher education sector, professional roles are continually evolving as we are challenged to move into new areas of learning and teaching where an emphasis on the use of technology is an important focus. Professional recognition for one’s work is important in a competitive environment when applying for new positions and for promotions. When sharing professional practice, one can be called on to demonstrate and ‘prove’ a mastery of the skills and knowledge required. A valuable asset is a professional portfolio. The process of developing a portfolio i.e. reflecting on practice and gathering evidence of one’s work that demonstrates sound links to pedagogy and technology, is a good investment in personal professional learning.

During 2015, supported by the CMALT Australasia 2015 CoP (Community of Practice) initiative, we have had a number of members working on their CMALT Australasia portfolio applications. We thank our CMALT holders and the ALT CMALT Development Group for their generous mentoring and sharing their own experiences in developing their CMALT portfolios towards becoming Certified Members of the Association for Learning Technology, UK.

Members can register for CMALT Australasia and submit their portfolios at any time. If you or your colleagues are interested in getting recognition for your professional knowledge and experience in the use of learning technology, it is not too late to be a part of the CoP and to get support towards achieving your Certified Membership (into 2016). You can contribute in a number of ways. Become a member of the CoP to get support from the community for your own application and/or to support others’ in their applications by reviewing drafts and giving feedback. We also have a growing number of ascilite members who are registered as ALT assessors for the scheme.

We look forward to catching up with CMALT Australasia ‘followers’ at the ascilite conference in Perth to further discuss professional recognition, reflective practice and professional portfolios.

You will find further details of CMALT Australasia on the ascilite website here and if you would like more information about the certified membership scheme, email Janet Buchan or Mark Northover, the CMALT leads.

Transforming Assessment / e-Assessment SIG News

Next Transforming Assessment Webinar

Topic: Outdoor Sensors for Real-time Data in e-learning Activities

Date & Time: 7 October 2015, starting UTC 07:00am (5pm Eastern Australian standard) and lasting for one hour. Further information, time zone conversions and registration are available here.

Abstract: Students today use electronic equipment to access information as never before. This session explores the idea that the availability of real time biophysical data from strategically placed outdoor multi-sensor mesh networks on the University of Queensland Gatton Campus and Farm Enterprises – and using these to develop problem based e-learning modules, will bring the outside biophysical environment into the students’ world in an interactive, constantly changing and engaging visual way. This approach to bringing the environment into the classroom is applicable to multiple disciplines including environmental science, agriculture, building and construction, mining and transport, where real-time environmental data feeds could add greatly to the authenticity of learning activities and assessment tasks.

Sessions are hosted by Professor Geoffrey Crisp, Dean Learning and Teaching, RMIT University and Dr Mathew Hillier, Institute for Teaching and Learning Innovation, University of Queensland, Australia (Monash University from 5 Oct).

Recording Released

A recording of the TA webinar conducted on 9 September has new been released. This webinar was titled "What can we do with assessment analytics?". It was presented by Associate Professor Cath Ellis (University of New South Wales, Australia) and Dr. Rachel Forsyth (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK). You will find the recording and other download resources here.

Reminder: Call for Papers

This is a reminder of the Call for Papers for "Using e-Assessment to enhance student learning and evidence learning outcomes" – Universities and Knowledge Society Journal that is open until 15 September 2015. Further information is available here.

Call for 2016 presenters

Academics and professional staff interested in presenting innovations and experiences related to e-Assessment in higher and further education are encouraged to email their topic and preferred month to Mathew Hillier. Most sessions occur on the first Wednesday of the month starting at UTC 07:00 (5pm Eastern Australian standard) time. Note we prefer interactive sessions in the style of by academics for academics exploring coal face experiences and discussion rather than vendor presentations.

Awards for Excellence in Learning Analytics Update

Submissions for the inaugural awards in Learning Analytics are now closed and the Learning Analytics SIG team would like to thank all applicants for taking the time to make a submission.

The LA SIG launched the Awards program in July to recognise excellence in the practical application of LA to enhance learning and teaching. A key driver for the Awards program is to create and share resources about effective LA practices. To this end, all presentations from Award applicants will be available for viewing on the LA SIG pages of the ascilite website within the few days.

We believe these presentations will form an important resource library around the use of LA in tertiary education across Australasia and New Zealand.

OTHER NEWS

Learning analytics: the route to strategy and student dashboard reporting

With more available and accessible information than ever before, many university faculties are turning their attention to learning analytics to personalise the student learning experience and improve their outcomes.

But developing an effective framework aligned with pedagogical objectives can be complex unless a variety of factors are addressed early on. With that in mind, we explored what faculties can do to harness data to generate insights and enhance the blended learning environment for students.

Crossing the Borders and Education without Borders Conferences

You are invited to register for "Crossing the Borders: New frontiers in Academic Integrity" on 16 – 18 November 2015 and/or for "Education without Borders: Open and Online Learning." Registration is free and the conferences will be held in Albury-Wodonga, NSW.